


what (zuko wants) to wear

by egeria



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Absolute fluff, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, M/M, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Prom, background azula/ty lee - Freeform, but the man is in prison, except she never really needed to be redeemed, gay! zuko, i'm an abolitionist until it comes to ozai, lesbian! azula, not really the focus, ran and shaw are dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26431348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egeria/pseuds/egeria
Summary: Piandao and Iroh were married at a small ceremony. A year after that, they’d adopted a golden retriever and chihuahua bonded pair, Ran and Shaw. The four humans and two dogs lived together in a small townhome tucked away on one of the few quiet streets in the city. Everything was peaceful.Until, of course, today, four years after the fateful meeting at the fencing center— Zuko had a crisis.He needed a suit for prom.--or: piandao and iroh are the dads azula and zuko deserve
Relationships: Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh/Piandao, Piandao & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 271
Collections: The Piandao Library





	what (zuko wants) to wear

**Author's Note:**

> i went to prom six years ago, so i really had to dig for these memories.
> 
> as always, any mistake is mine. maybe someday i'll get a beta. i decided to shift tenses like halfway through writing this, so if i missed any conjugations i am so sorry. my brain,,,, it is broke.

They’d met how many adults meet: at a function for their child. Or, in their case, it was Iroh taking Zuko to fencing practice. He’d just gotten custody of his niece and nephew, who were thirteen and eleven respectively, and was trying to get them involved in activities. Azula wanted to take taekwondo classes; Zuko wanted to learn fencing. 

And so on a January night, Iroh had found himself in the reception area of the best fencing school in the city, waiting for Zuko to be done with his first lesson. There were other parents scattered around, flipping through magazines or answering work emails on their phones. He’d arrived too early, but he had been both nervous and excited to see how the lessons went. Zuko had never been allowed to be in an environment like this, or really do an activity that he enjoyed. But part of Iroh had been nervous that the young boy would be overwhelmed. 

Next to him, Azula had been playing a very long-running game of Subway Surfers, which she apparently was a top-ranked player in. She was still in her dobok from her practice earlier in the day. 

After they had waited for twenty minutes, the doors to the practice room opened, and a stream of children and young teens had rushed out to their eager parents. At the end of the pack, Iroh could see Zuko talking to an older man. Or, really, the older man talking to Zuko. Iroh couldn’t really get a good look at the man’s face. Before they were fully out of the room, the man leaned down to Zuko’s level and whispered something in his ear, causing Zuko to laugh. 

When his nephew had caught sight of him and Azula, he waved, quickly running over. Iroh stood to greet him, giving him a quick hug. 

“How was practice?” he’d asked. 

Zuko had a large smile on his face, larger than Iroh had seen recently. “It was so cool! Master Piandao showed us so many cool tricks!”

Iroh arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?” He had looked over to where the older man was staring, now able to see his face as he watched from afar. And for the first time since his wife had died fifteen years before, Iroh had felt butterflies in his stomach. The man,  _ Master Piandao _ , was perhaps the most handsome person Iroh had ever seen. He had dark skin, a sharp bone structure, and his gray eyes stood out starkly against the rest of his features. 

“... Uncle?” He had heard Zuko ask. Iroh had realized he’d been staring, and he saw that Piandao noticed as well, causing a blush to rise to Iroh’s cheeks. 

He’d turned back to the children then, clearing his throat a bit. “Let’s say we go get ice cream, hmm? To celebrate a successful evening?”

He had allowed himself one last look back at Piandao, who was staring back at him, practically analyzing his very soul. 

_ It’s just a silly crush _ , Iroh had told himself.  _ Even old men can get silly crushes. It doesn’t mean anything _ . 

Which, of course, turned out to be a lie. Two years later, Piandao and Iroh were married at a small ceremony. A year after that, they’d adopted a golden retriever and chihuahua bonded pair, Ran and Shaw. The four humans and two dogs lived together in a small townhome tucked away on one of the few quiet streets in the city. Everything was peaceful. 

Until, of course, today, four years after the fateful meeting at the fencing center— Zuko had a crisis. 

He needed a suit for prom. 

It’s Saturday, and the whole family is in the kitchen. Azula, finishing her Chinese School homework before it starts at one. Piandao, trying to figure out how to work the new air fryer. Iroh, posing Ran and Shaw, both sporting cowboy hats, for a picture for the dogs’ Instagram. And Zuko, anxiously scrolling through online catalogue after online catalogue, trying to find the perfect suit. 

“This is useless!” he said, throwing his phone on the table. It causes Azula’s drink to wobble, and she shot him a glare. 

“Go have your gay crisis in the living room,” she snapped, moving the drink away from him. 

Zuko glared. “You’re literally a lesbian.”

“But you don’t see me being dramatic about it, do you?” she said. Behind her, Piandao snorts, though he tries to hide it with an unconvincing cough. Zuko sticks his tongue out at both of them. 

Iroh had finished posing the dogs, very much taking advantage of the new portrait mode for pets, before walking over and giving Zuko’s shoulders a small squeeze. 

“Shopping for suits is much easier in person. A good suit depends on so many different factors, and it is difficult for those criteria to be met without trying the suits on for yourself.” He paused, before giving a small clap of his hands. “Oh, I know! We should make a day out of it. We could go this afternoon. There are always good sales at the mall. I think I have some coupons in my desk…” And with that, he wandered off. 

“You’ll have to miss our shopping adventure, ‘Zula,” Piandao said. “Can’t miss Chinese school.”

Azula let out a content sigh, looking lovingly at her homework. “I’ve never loved this language more than I do at this very moment.”

Zuko groaned. 

—

Shopping with Piandao and Iroh was very low on Zuko’s top activities list. In fact, Zuko would say it wasn’t even on the list of top activities. It was on the list of least favorite activities. 

They always wanted to look at  _ every. single. item.  _ It wasn’t even just clothes shopping, either. A single trip to Costco could take hours. And don’t even get him started on their occasional trip to Ikea.

In the backseat of Piandao’s Subaru Outback, Zuko was sulking. 

_ To Sokka: My dads are dragging me to the mall. Send help.  _

To their faces, Zuko still called them Uncle and Piandao. But he’d figured out it was easier to just refer to them as his dads. It was easier than explaining the whole situation. And anyway, his actual dad sucked and was currently rotting in prison, so. At least these two adults were actually dad-figures. 

His phone buzzed, and Zuko eagerly unlocked it. 

_ From Sokka: zuko 🤝 overbearing dads who are too excited to help their child pick out a prom suit 🤝 sokka _

_ From Sokka: my dads are also dragging me to the mall, but we’re going tomorrow ):  _

Zuko couldn’t help the smile that lit up on his face. Even just talking to Sokka put him in a better mood. They’d only been dating for a few months, but they’d been friends for about a year prior, after their mutual friend Toph introduced them to each other. It was like something clicked with the two of them-- they could hardly go a day without talking, and now that they were together, barely two hours could pass without some sort of communication.

“Who ya talkin’ too?” Piandao asks from the driver’s seat, eying Zuko through the rearview mirror. 

Zuko blushed, locking his phone and shoving it back into his pocket. “No one,” he mumbled.

Piandao hummed a bit, though his eyes went back to the road. “Not Sokka, then?”

His blush deepened, and his Uncle let out a small chuckle from the passenger seat. “Now, now, love. Don’t embarrass the boy.”

Zuko slouches a bit in his seat, his arms crossed. He most assuredly  _ was not _ pouting. “I’m not embarrassed,” he mumbles again, glaring out the window. 

Iroh reaches back to pat his knee. “Of course you aren’t, dear boy. Of course you aren’t.”

\--

“I thought malls were dead,” Zuko comments as they enter the building. For some reason, Zuko had expected to be the only people in the ancient structure, but it was bustling. They’d had to park half a mile from the entrance.

“Eh,” Piandao said, giving a halfhearted shrug, “Give it ten years.”

“I watched a very interesting documentary on dead malls recently,” Iroh said. “But luckily for us, not only is this mall not dead, but it also has a Dillard’s and a Bloomingdale’s! Both have fantastic selections. And I have some great coupons!” He proudly held them up for the other two men to see.

Piandao smiled widely. “That’s fantastic, love. We should get some great deals.”

Zuko groaned. “Can we please just get this over with?”

“For being so broke, the youth do not value coupons as much as they should,” Iroh said with a small shake of his head.

Luckily for Zuko, Dillard’s was right by the entrance, and he quickly walked ahead of his dads, trying to put some sort of distance between him and them. Not too far ahead, though. They were still the ones purchasing the suit.

In the store, he felt slightly overwhelmed by the selection in front of him. As he looked at all of the options, he couldn’t get over how… boring everything felt. He couldn’t even tell the difference between half of the suits-- they were all just black. Normally, Zuko’s style wasn’t anything outlandish. It’s not like he was winning any best-dressed awards. But this was his one prom. Hell, this was the only high school dance he was even going to. And Sokka… well, he wanted to be dressed up for him. He knew that his boyfriend put a lot into dances and events like this. And even if they weren’t really Zuko’s thing, he wanted to at least put an effort in.

Also, at the end of the day, Zuko wasn’t boring. And a black suit was just absolutely boring.

Piandao must have seen his dissatisfied look. He came up to Zuko, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. “Not into it?”

Zuko shook his head. “They’re all just… bleh.”

Iroh had already wandered off into the racks of clothes, picking some up to more closely analyze. “There’s some with color if that’s more your style,” he called to him, holding up a dark blue suit.

Zuko walked over, looking closer at the suit. “Oh, I didn’t know suits came in color.”

“Is there a particular color you’d like?” Piandao asked. 

He thought about it, biting his lip with his front teeth. “Well… red is my favorite color. But I’m scared, that, you know, with my…” he waved vaguely in front of the left side of his face.

Iroh’s face morphed into one of sadness, like it always did whenever Zuko’s scar was mentioned, or any insecurity he had around it. “I think you would look dashing in red, nephew. Absolutely stunning. Don’t you think, darling?”

Piandao squeezed both of Zuko’s shoulders. “Definitely. The whole school would be jealous. You’d make history in a red suit.”

He felt a blush rise to his cheeks. “Y’all just have to say that.”

“Perhaps,” Iroh acquiesced, cocking his head a bit to the side. “It doesn’t make it any less true.”

As always with these conversations, where his dads made him feel loved and, strangely enough, handsome, Zuko felt some tears form in his eyes. “Do you really think so?”

“We would never lie to you, Zuko,” Iroh said softly. Behind Zuko, Piandao gave another squeeze, before removing his hands.

“Let’s find every red suit in this damn place and try them on. We’re going to do a little fashion show.”

“Every suit?” Zuko asked, his mouth dropping. “How many are there?”

Piandao had a small smirk on his face. “Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we?”

“I hope you’ve been practicing your catwalk,” Iroh said.

Zuko gulped.

\--

There turned out to be more red suits than Zuko would believe, and after confirming his size, he found himself in an excessively full dressing room, where just outside his door, his dads were eagerly awaiting his fashion show.

And so he started with the first one in the pile, and with each suit, he’d come out and model for the two adults, a permanent blush on his face. Luckily for him, his dads were very upfront about which suits they liked and disliked, and it became pretty quick to eliminate certain styles or certain shades of reds.

Zuko definitely liked a lot of them, but none had truly made him feel special. He didn’t really know what feeling he was even hoping for, and had started to settle on the fact that he would just feel  _ eh _ about whatever he picked. At the end of the day, he felt better in any red suit than he would in a dull old black suit, so what more could he really want?

That was, of course, what Zuko’s mindset was until he tried on his twenty-sixth suit. 

It had been one Piandao had picked off of the rack, not even really looking past the carnelian shade. As Zuko put the jacket on over the white button-up he was wearing for this adventure in suits, he realized that the sleeves were cropped to about five inches above his wrist. And when he slid on the pants, he suddenly realized that the pants were cropped to where Zuko would normally roll his pants. They were high-waisted, and when tucking his shirt in and straightening the clothing out, he suddenly realized that this was it. Because holy shit, Zuko thought, he looked  _ good _ .

It was different, but still classic enough that he wasn’t necessarily making a loud statement. Eye-catching without being the focus of the room. And the part he was nervous about-- the scar-- just seemed to be flattered by the shade of red instead of clashing. The suit made everything about him tie together. He looked complete.

For the first time in a while, Zuko felt  _ hot. _ Zuko finally realized that this is what Sokka must see when he looks at him. 

For the second time that day, Zuko felt tears pool in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away, turning to head out to his dads. When he opened the door, he made sure to straighten his shoulders and stand up straight. Properly.

“This is the one.”

Iroh and Piandao looked over the suit, grins growing on their faces. “Oh, nephew,” Iroh said. “You look stunning.”

Piandao nodded in agreement. “I don’t think anyone can compete.”

“You think so?” Zuko asked, looking back down at himself. “I mean… I  _ do _ look good.”

“Good is an understatement,” Piandao said. “Do you want to try any more on?”

Zuko shook his head. “No, I’m-I’m pretty confident that this is it.”

Iroh nodded. “When you know, you know.” He reached over to ruffle Zuko’s hair. “Now, go change out of your handsome suit. We need to go pick out shoes now.”

His good mood dissipated just like that. “ _ Shoes? _ ”

Piandao and Iroh had matching smirks. “Now, Zuko,” Piandao said. “The suit is just one part of the ensemble.”

For perhaps the millionth time that day, Zuko groaned.

\--

That night, he showed Azula the entire ensemble. She sat on her bed, analyzing the outfit, coming up to straighten the jacket and tweak his hair.

“You look less like a rodent,” she finally said, sitting back on the bed and raking her eyes over him. “It’s truly an accomplishment.”

He glared. “You’re such a kind sister.”

She smiled, her face forming into something truly sinister. “I am exactly the sister you deserve.”

Zuko couldn’t disagree with that.

He hummed a bit, looking at himself in her full-length mirror. “Bets on Uncle crying during my prom photos?”

She snorted, flopping back onto her pillows. “It’s not even worth betting that. Of course he’s going to cry. The real question is if Piandao will cry.”

Zuko looked at her through the mirror, his eyebrow cocked. “What do you think?”

Azula considered this, her head tilted a bit to the side. “Well, he did cry at my eighth-grade graduation, and that was two years ago and far less exciting than his eldest child going to the American rite of passage.”

He sighed. “Of course they’re both going to be emotional wrecks.”

She shrugged a bit. “What can we do? They’re made for each other.”

And of course, she was right. Zuko had never known his Uncle’s first wife, but he knew that he’d loved her. And after his cousin died in that car accident all of those years ago, there’d been a part of Iroh that seemed incomplete. With Piandao, and even with both Zuko and Azula, Iroh’s increased joy had been evident. They couldn’t replace the loved ones he lost, but if anything, Zuko thought that the three of them allowed Iroh’s heart to grow and that they lived comfortably within there, sharing the room with his wife and Lu Ten. 

Well, the dogs might take up more room than all of the humans combined. Considering that there were more photos of the dogs on Iroh’s phone than any other living being. There were tea blends named after Ran and Shaw, but spirits forbid Zuko gets a call-out.

He huffed, turning to fully face Azula. “Just get ready for when you go to prom in two years. You’re the youngest. They’re going to go crazy.”

She pointed a finger at the door. “Out. And who said I’m going to prom?”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “You think Ty Lee is going to let you skip prom? Really?”

“ _ Out. _ ”

He laughed, leaving the room and heading across the hall to his own. Once inside, he pulled out his phone to text Sokka.

_ From Zuko: Azula doesn’t think I look ugly, so I guess I look good. _

_ From Sokka: and i don’t get to see it ): _

_ From Sokka: suki got to see it! _

_ From Zuko: Suki isn’t my date :P  _

Zuko paused a bit, his mind going back to the dark blue suit his uncle had picked up earlier at the suit. He hadn’t thought about it then, but now that he was in a better mindset, he imagined a blue suit on Sokka. It was… definitely a nice image. Red and blue were good color combos, right?

_ From Zuko: Have you thought about a blue suit? _

_ From Sokka: … i’m listening _

He smiled. The two of them were about to be an absolute power couple at prom.

\--

Downstairs, Iroh and Piandao sat on the sectional, their legs entwined on the ottoman in front of them, and Ran and Shaw curled up in their laps. On the TV, a documentary on Mount St. Helen’s softly played in the background. They were both enjoying the peacefulness that seemed to have enveloped their home.

“Thank you for helping Zuko today, love,” Iroh said, squeezing his hand. “I know it can be difficult for him sometimes.”

Piandao smiled, leaning over to kiss his husband on the cheek. “I love those children as my own, Iroh. You know I’d do anything for them.”

A huge smile erupted onto Iroh’s face. “You’re a great father for them. I’m forever grateful for you.”

Piandao searched his eyes, before leaning forward and kissing him, this time on the lips. “Iroh, the things you have done for those two… it can’t even be quantified.”

Iroh  _ hmm’d _ , joy dancing in his eyes. “Is this a competition? Are we seeing who can best compliment the others parenting skills?”

He laughed, giving him another kiss before leaning back into the couch. “I know better than to challenge you to a game, Iroh. You always cheat.”

Iroh looked affronted, placing a hand on his chest. “I’d  _ never _ .” 

Upstairs, they could hear Zuko yell something at his sister, who yelled back, and then a loud  _ thump _ . They sighed, before giving each other a look. 

“Should we go up there?” Piandao asked. There was another  _ thump _ .

Iroh considered this, before shaking his head. “I’m sure they’ll let us know if they need to go to the hospital.”

_ Thump _ .

Piandao nodded. “Turn the TV up?”

_ Thump _ . “Azula! Ow!” They heard Zuko yell. Ran and Shaw lifted their heads, staring towards the stairs with mild concern.

“It would be my pleasure,” Iroh said, raising the volume to drown out the teenagers.

But not loud enough. “ _ Uncle! _ ” Zuko yelled. “Azula took my Switch!”

“Did not!”

Piandao patted his hand, “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Iroh sighed. A normal night in their household, then. As with any family household, peace could only last for so long.

But as with many family households, even during the absolute chaos, the overwhelming love was still present. And in their home, this was more than true. And truly, after everything that had happened, that’s all Iroh could ask for.

A home full of love.

**Author's Note:**

> what did y'all think? i have some ideas for more in this universe if y'all would be interested.
> 
> as always, plugging the discord server that means a lot to me: [Zukka Nation](https://discord.gg/9uhYEm)
> 
> if you're 15+, feel free to party with us. it's a super active server and we're only slightly annoying.


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